Tube travel: New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes

We've seen an explosion in high-speed transport across the world. The Scramjet aims to go from London to New York in one hour, China has created a plethora of bullet train lines, and Japan has unveiled a 310 mph floating train. Now, a company called ET3 has plans in the works for a transportation tube which uses magnetic levitation to propel passengers at high speed.

The Evacuated Tube Transport is able to travel at speeds of up to 4,000 miles per hour. Metro-like tubes are able to accommodate up to six people and come with baggage areas, and as the ETT is airless and frictionless, it is hypothetically plausible that a passenger could shave time off long journeys -- such as going from New York to Los Angeles in only 45 minutes instead of the five hours a flight requires.

Fancy New York to Beijing? The idea of reaching this destination in only two hours would surely make a lot of businessmen happy.

ET3 claims that passengers would not feel discomfort while hurtling at 4,000 mph, as the velocity of travel is equal to 1G -- and a similar force is felt by drivers on the freeway.

If and when this mode of transport debuts, it will be first tested with cargo.